Kappaletta: A song for a telegram

How would you strum the heartstrings of your loved one? You might give them a bunch of roses, a book or perhaps a box of chocolates. Such gifts are quite touching, but they are also too common.

Now there is a new cool way to express your strong affection for someone. You can arrange for a band to come to your beloved's door and play a song of your choice. Cool right?

The idea was put into motion by three young people: Niken Anggrahini, Lioni Beatrik and Ferry "Pepeng" Ferdinan, all from Bandung, West Java.

The idea came to Lioni while she was daydreaming during a boring book club discussion at Tobucil (The Little Bookshop) in 2002. Afterward she shared her idea with Dita and Nia.

"We wanted to make some money on Valentine's Day. But instead of making hampers, we came up with the idea of a singing telegram," Lioni said. She said the group had received five requests to perform on Valentine's Day.

Earlier this year, Lioni expressed her desire to continue the activity beyond Valentine's Day. Niken and Lioni talked about creating a regular singing telegram team, and Kappaletta was formed. The group consists of Niken (administrator), Lioni (singer) and Pepeng (guitarist).

Niken and Lioni met at a bookshop and Lioni and Pepeng are college friends from Padjajaran University's School of Communications. Niken is a visual arts teacher at Mutiara Bunda elementary school, Lioni works for the United Nations Development Programme as a member of the West Java Earthquake Team and Pepeng, who used to work for Jakarta-based DAAI TV, is now studying for a master's degree at Padjajaran University.

After discussing the idea with Niken, Lioni asked Pepeng to join because she considered him a fun person to discuss music with.

"I often discuss all kinds of music, from heavy metal to Melayu *Malay*, with Pepeng," Lioni said.

"When Lioni asked me to join Kappaletta, I merely saw it as a way to stay active. I'm not too busy at the moment and for me it's a good way to socialize," Pepeng said.

The gang began posting announcements on social sites Facebook and Multiply in mid January.

"We gave the singing telegram a name, Kappaletta, which means *song' in Finnish," she said.

Kappaletta accepts any song request as long as it is acoustic guitar-friendly, since that is the band's sole instrument. Kappaletta usually asks clients to order the song at least three days in advance to allow time for practice.

"We touch their emotions through the song. If the recipient fails to get the message because we haven't practiced enough that is very bad. Therefore, practice is a must," Pepeng said.

To place a request, clients can contact Niken or Lioni on their cell phones. Niken said requests usually came sporadically, sometimes with one or two in a week and in other weeks none.

"The most popular request so far has been *Geef Mij Maar Nasi Goreng' (Give Me Nasi Goreng), which was popularized by Dutch singer Wieteke Van Dort. It has been ordered repeatedly by the same client, but for different people," Niken said.

While most clients usually request happy songs for birthdays or anniversaries, one client requested a song be played to remind a debtor that he owed the client money.

"He let us choose the song. We were a bit confused, but then the order was canceled because the person paid the debt. We were so relieved to hear that," Niken said.

The first song they played for a client was Lucky, which was popularized by Jason Mraz and Colby Caillat. The musical telegram was sent from a girl to her boyfriend to celebrate their seven-month anniversary.

Lioni said that her heart had been beating so fast during their debut because the recipient, who was a guitarist himself, initially believed the group was delivering a new guitar to him as gift.

"I was afraid he was disappointed. We told him that the gift was a song and not the guitar. Then we started singing. It turned out the boyfriend preferred the song because he was thrilled with the song," she said.

Pepeng said that their debut performance had left a lasting impression.

"When I first joined Kappaletta, I did not think about its potential impact. But when I saw Syarief's reaction, a mix of excitement and happiness, it was very rewarding for me," he said.

"Actually, every request has a lasting impression because each recipient has a different reaction and that's what makes it fun and impressive."

The group has different prices for different areas. Within Bandung, they charge Rp 50,000 (US$5) per song. This price includes either flowers, chocolate, or a book as an added bonus. Niken said that if the recipient was sick, they would replace the chocolate and flowers with fruit.

"For requests outside Bandung, we apply extra charges. For Jakarta, we usually charge Rp 100,000 per song," she said.

Besides Bandung, the group has delivered songs in Jakarta and Yogyakarta. Clients in those areas requested at least three songs each.

"We have no regular schedule for visiting Jakarta and other cities. We go to Jakarta whenever we feel like it, usually on a long weekend. But if we get a minimum of song three requests we will go, Niken said.

Preparing for the future, Niken said the group wanted to build a website or online service.

Niken said she had not decided whether to officially bring permanent members into the group to add to Kappaletta's line-up because they had friends who were willing to join the group at any time.

Lioni said she was trying to persuade her friend Dita (who was the original singer for Kappaletta in 2002) to rejoin. Pepeng, the most laid back of the group, said he preferred to just go with the flow.

Niken said she had not told her parents about the venture because they lived separately. However, Niken said she expected her parents to take the news lightly when they did find out because she often delved into such activities. Pepeng said he felt the same.

Lioni said that at first she had not wanted to tell her family. But one day, Kappaletta received a request to deliver a Batak song for a friend's grandfather. Since the other Kappaletta members were not familiar with Batak music, she turned to her parents, who are of Batak descent.

"I finally told them that I was involved in a singing telegram group. They did not have any objection to the activity. They support me," she said.

Source : The Jakarta Post